Researchers create wax hand to get around vein sensor tech

Security researchers created a fake hand out of wax capable of getting around vein sensor technology – used by organizations like Germany’s BND signals intelligence agency, the researchers told an audience at Chaos Communications Congress in Leipzig.

Jan Krissler and Julian Albrecht used an SLR camera – minus its infrared filter – to photograph vein patterns in their own hands then made wax models.

“It’s enough to take photos from a distance of five meters, and it might work to go to a press conference and take photos of them,” Krissler told Motherboard.

The researchers expressed surprise at how easy the hack was.

“It makes you feel uneasy that the process is praised as a high-security system and then you modify a camera, take some cheap materials and hack it,” said Kissler.